Ali Forney Center (AFC)

Drop-In Center.Youth Leadership and Advisory Program has a new cohort of clients working with our Social Work Advocacy Intern on:The Innovators LabThe Innovators Lab is designed to educate interns around the topic of advocacy and leadership. Interns will work together to 1) identify issues clients face within AFC and 2) brainstorm innovative ways they can advocate for that goal within AFC.Social Justice Power HourDuring Social Justice Power Hour, interns and guest speakers will participate in hands-on activities, workshops, and presentations. The Youth Advisory Board (YAB)Interns will serve on the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) as leaders, organizers, and communicators to gain hands-on advocacy experience through different levels of engagement. Interns will be able to apply advocacy methodologies into practice.Trans Services: Monthly Name Change Clinic at the drop-in center, Voice Change Clinic will be accessible as needed. Spanish Support Services: Proving coordination of care in Spanish with clients seeking legal support, asylum cases and linkage to medical and psych services in spanish.

HousingThe Housing Redesign is at its assessment stage of evaluating whether it has met its objective(s) and also to unpack the unintended challenges. This reflective space enables housing to revisit all of the practices that shape rendering services to our residents. This is a major project as it forces us to rebuild the foundation as we are opening new sites and expanding. One of the new updates is the opening of the 119th site in Central Harlem. This program houses 20 residents under the age of 21. This has been much needed as we are able to serve more youth; and clients are getting placed within 2-3 days of being on the waitlist. We had clear protocols to follow in the event of positive cases; we prioritized the mental health of the residents by implementing and normalizing the self care agreement, multiple checking with the Mental Health team at AFC, approving longer passes when we were able to. Overall, THP focused on buy-in mthodes and using tactics from a volunteer based approach as well as seeing the residents as a partner to successfully support them in the program during the pandemic. In 2020 Trans Housing was able to engage residents in group activities that connected them to the larger lgbtq communities and physical activity often inaccessible to LGBTQ young people of color. An example of this was trans housings life retreat with CRUX an LGBTQ organization that builds community around rock climbing, a well attended event that gave residents space to take care of their physical and mental well being through the sport of climbing while building community with one another and the community at large. Trans housing is a 2 year 18 bed program and in 2020 saw 8 of our residents move into their own subsidized or unsubsidized apartments or move in with friends and family. 2 of these 8 residents moved into unsubsidized apartments and 5 moved into their own subsidized apartments through referrals made in case management. Additionally trans housing was able to add to our positive incentive model began in 2019 by providing program compliance gift cards that residents earn weekly by supporting the space and meeting program expectations. A gift card tracker was also created that is visible to staff and residents for each site to help residents and staff see where a resident is at in earning their gift card for the week. This was created with resident brainstorming as a way to facilitate resident buy in, transparency, and mutual accountability between staff and residents for completing tasks and filling out the tracker. This system has increased program compliance tremendously and was very supportive of residents due to loss of income during the height of the pandemic in 2020. Trans housing was also successful in connecting several residents to multiple emergency relief and mutual aid funds for Trans sex workers, undocumented residents, and Black trans folks experiencing homelessness based on eligibility.